What the Pros Know About
Eco-Design
"Well, I try to be responsible," says Clodagh, acknowledging that the design world has a long way to go in the development of products free from toxic manufacturing and installation procedures. "I would call myself a little signpost on the ecological highway," she says modestly. But much of her design is informed by a respect for the earth. The gray in the living room's Boulders carpet from Tufenkian, for example, is the natural color of the Tibetan sheep from which it is made, which means no bleach was used in producing the wool. Certainly her earthy palette, both of color and of materials and textures, is based in nature, and sustainability of resources is an important issue for her. Windows are covered in shades of split bamboo, one of the most available—and therefore inexpensive—materials on earth. Plaster, she says, is a nontoxic material, and if it gets a little ding in it, it actually looks better than new. The wood she used on kitchen cabinets and on the wraparound benches throughout the apartment may look like a rare hardwood, but they are lace-wood, commonly called "silky oak" in Australia, where some twenty five species of the tree thrive (it grows in the southern U.S. as well). "And I do design to last," she says of her affection for materials like concrete and steel, "which is one aspect of green design." This is accomplished by textures and fabrics selected to be sensual, tactile, rich to the hand. "I tell clients they should choose fabrics blindfolded," she says. Also important is creating a harmonious retreat from a world vibrating with electronic impulses. "Easing tension is another way of helping the planet," says the designer, who is a practitioner of feng shui.